Bed bug infestations have become more and more common in recent years due to increases in international travel. Individuals staying at hotels, motels or bed and breakfasts that are infested with bed bugs are likely to carry the bed bugs back to their homes in their luggage or in their clothing. These bed bugs can subsequently infest many parts of the home, particularly soft furnishings, which provide a highly suitable environment for bed bugs to multiply. It is their association with bedding, however, which brings them into the closest and most prolonged contact with humans. In infested homes, bedding items, including pillows, duvets, mattresses, and box springs have been found to house large numbers of bed bugs and their eggs.
Bed bugs are a cause of concern for humans as they feed mainly off human blood and their bites can cause symptoms such as swelling and itchiness. Infestations may take up to three months to notice and bedding items may be infested before one can take preventative action as bed bugs lay about 5 eggs per day; their numbers can proliferate quickly and bed bugs can live up to a year without feeding.
Conventional pillowcases and mattress covers are not effective to prevent bed bugs from escaping from infested bedding items and making contact with humans who are laying on the bed nor are they effective in preventing bed bugs from infesting the bedding items and laying eggs therein. Laundry bags and travel bags currently on the market are also not effective in preventing bed bugs from infesting clothing stored in the bags. These enclosures have interior spaces which are not sufficiently sealed from the surrounding environment, providing bed bugs with easy routes of travel back and forth between the interior spaces, in which the bedding or other items are situated, and the outside environment.
Bed bug infestations are very difficult to eliminate and it can be very expensive and impractical to replace bedding items infested with bed bugs. Insecticides such as DDT, which have been proven effective against bed bugs, have been banned in many countries, including the United States, and have been replaced with weaker insecticides. Many bed bugs have grown resistant to these weaker insecticides which makes infestations harder to control.